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Daily Essentials for Christians
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Feb 7, 2025
Pastor Al Watkins: A Journey of Faith and Inspiration!
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hello thank you for tuning in today I'm
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Al Watkins and I'm glad to be here with
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you to share a few things that I feel on
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my heart that need to be shared
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especially to Christians uh a lot of us
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uh may even run into this question on a
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regular basis
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what do Christians do every day in other
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words there are a lot of things in this
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world that people use for distractions
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there are a lot of things in this world
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that people just do every day uh some
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things are essential some things aren't
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but being a Christian also has an
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essential list that we must practice and
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utilize each day and use it in the
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Forefront of our living for Christ
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because we are to be examples of what
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Christ was in his day and also what he
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is to us in our day through his holy
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spirit's presence in the Christian's
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heart the essence of a Christian's day
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is always centered on something it's
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faith and love those are two things that
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should be in every Christian's life at
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the Forefront that everybody around us
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sees as we walk each and every day and
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service is the third thing we'll touch
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on each one of these items the faith the
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love and the service but but also we're
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going to talk about one important thing
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that God did in the very beginning as he
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was giving Moses the message to write
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down uh of the first books of the Bible
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he understood one thing that we needed
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to know God understands everything we
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need to know but as he gave Moses this
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it was for the people of his time but it
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was also for the people of our time and
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all the people in between and those that
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are yet to come and that is God's word
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the Bible so each day should begin with
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something that the Bible puts first
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first verse of the Bible first four
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words to be exact says this in Genesis
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chapter 1 verse one in the beginning God
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so therefore each day if we're going to
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live with the essentials of God and
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Christ and the Holy Spirit being
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powerful in our lives and substance in
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our lives we must therefore do what the
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Bible says in the beginning God so in
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the beginning of each day we must look
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at it this way God comes first God comes
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first so therefore the first thing we
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must make time for and be devotional
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about it that means be devoted in other
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words understand is an essential and we
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must do it first thing each day is we
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must talk with God that's called prayer
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prayer is not something that's long
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drawn out legalistic and everything it's
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just like I'm talking to you right now
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and I could give you a petition I could
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give you a concern uh on God's then he
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could give me advice you know as he
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listens to my petition and my concern
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but even in that petition we must pray
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to God and Hallowed be his name
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according to the model prayer that Jesus
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gave us in the gospels so first thing
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for a Christian and it's essential start
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each day as soon as possible with prayer
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and be devoted with it start the day
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with gratitude seeking his guidance in
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other words be thankful God is there for
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us and give him thanks for that and that
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alone also throughout the day it might
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practice to just keep the Line open stay
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connected with God through our personal
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prayer and through our communal prayer
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life where it may be praying with others
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in a group or maybe just two as you pass
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through somebody's life as a the day go
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on second thing on my list is make sure
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as quickly as possible after your
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morning prayer read the scripture uh
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some people do it the opposite direction
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some people put two in place of one on
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my list and that's okay uh this is my
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list and you do your list but make sure
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the first two things you do is pray with
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God talk with God do it devotionally do
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it as a dedicated person and also as a
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dedicated person read his word now I
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understand a lot of people do read
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commentaries and it inspires them to go
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throughout the day those are great
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thought starters if you read a
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commentary don't don't forsake reading
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of God's word yourself because God
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speaks to you God doesn't use an
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interpreter always to speak to you
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remember when Jesus died on the cross
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the veil was rent from top to bottom we
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don't have to go through a priest we
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don't have to go through a preacher we
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don't have to go through a Sunday school
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teacher we don't have to go through
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anybody except go through the name of
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Jesus and the Holy Spirit present in
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this world around us will make sure we
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get there for our prayer
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petition meditate on what God tells you
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in the reading of your word of his word
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meditate on it to gain wisdom and
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strength for your day that is Yet to
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Come Those are the first two items
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pretty heavy aren't they no they're not
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heavy at all when you talk to God you'll
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be surprised how uplifting it could be
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when you recognize God gives you a
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message of your own in his word how
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uplifting that could be that brings us
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to the third thing on my list and that
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is this we must live the life of Christ
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according to his command and as we do
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that we must learn to live like Christ
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that's why it's important that we know
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God we know God's love we know the
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Redemption of his son and we know the
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power and the presence of his holy
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spirit because we can go through all
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things through the strength of Jesus
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that's in us that's his Spirit today and
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that's wonderful everybody needs it I
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could preach on a whole subject right
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there but I'm talking on the first I'm
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talking on my item number three on my
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list of the essentials of being a
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Christian and living the Christian Life
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that third again because I did get a
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little sidet track is this Live the Life
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of Christ how do you do that you learn
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to love love and you learn to love with
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kindness in other words you
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love
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unrelentlessly you love the loved ones
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you love the ones you don't love that
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you love the unlovable you love like
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Christ Christians especially those that
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call themselves Christians and gather
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together we're required and commanded to
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love one another as Christ has loved us
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by that people outside can see that we
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belong to him but as they see that we
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must learn to understand like we were
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Sinners before we knew Christ and we
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were unsaved they don't know Christ so
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therefore they're not saved the first
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thing we do is we can't save them but we
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can make disciples of them a disciple is
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a student of Christ we show them the
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master and allow the Holy Spirit to draw
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them unto him so therefore we must learn
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to to live with love as Jesus did and be
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kind to all people as Jesus was we must
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understand that means we got to treat
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others with
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patience and
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compassion listen patience is a tough
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thing we like people to be patient with
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us when we feel like we're un
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misunderstood we also like people to be
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compassionate with us when we find
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ourselves in need God was both those
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things through Christ Jesus and his love
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and because of his love he left the holy
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spirit so that we could experience his
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love and compassion in our life through
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blessings brought about so we must learn
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to live with love and live with kindness
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and therefore that means we must
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understand grace allow others to be
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Sinners don't condone the sin but don't
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throw the baby out with the bath water
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or somebody would say love the unlovable
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love the sinner hate the sin help them
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and show them Christ fourth thing on my
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list work oh my there's that four-letter
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word some of us really don't like but we
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must work at worship because in this
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world today there's a lot of things that
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try to take the place of Christ uh false
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Idols are first thing that comes to mind
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but there's a lot of things that can
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distract us and we forget to understand
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that we're here to serve God God we're
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here because God allowed it we're here
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to be anything to anybody else including
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ourselves simply because God made it so
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so therefore we must learn to worship
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the Creator not the created but the
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Creator we must learn to do that and how
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do we do that we approach every task
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that comes in our life every task with
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Integrity in other words we must be
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honest about the circumstance situation
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happenstance and even our reactions to
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things around us we must understand
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truth is the bottom line what is the
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truth in every circumstance situation
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what is the truth and what we can do
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what is the truth and what we can say
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work as worshiping God bringing forth
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all things no matter what it is with
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Integrity of honesty and be dedicated in
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that thought working at worship be
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dedicated to all always be honest with
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yourself and therefore you can be honest
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with God offer people acts of
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worship allow people to worship God by
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explaining to them how their existence
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came about because he's the Creator show
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him to the Creator show him to the
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master show him directly to the Holy
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Spirit who through a prayer in Jesus's
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name can lead them throughout all
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eternity that's enough to be thankful
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for that's enough to have gratitude for
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that's enough to worship him for fifth
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on my list of the essentials of the
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Christian Life is
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this we got to serve others to be
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Christlike we must understand we were
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served by his Redemptive acts throughout
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his sinless life and what he did on the
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cross and through the power that raised
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him from the grave and through the
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message he left us so that we could look
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forward for hope we must ser serve
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others so that they can always feel hope
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we must help the needy we must help the
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Lost we must do those things through
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small acts and large acts alike in other
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words we can do things individually or
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sometimes we need to work with others
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through organizations of some kind that
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are bringing the Christian faith in the
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lives of those that are lost or those
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that are in need that need help in a
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given time in this
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world number six on my
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list God allows things to come into our
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life so number six is this we must trust
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God when we find ourselves in a trial we
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must trust God when we find ourselves
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challenged by life itself facing
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difficulties with faith is easier than
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facing it without surrendering worries
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to God sort of helps us a lot because we
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have now shared that burden we've made
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it his problem as well as desirs and
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relying on him for the peace that he can
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bring us because he's walking with us
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helping us carry that
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load I had a job one time and this is an
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example of what I'm talking about there
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and trusting God in his challenges God
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blessed me with the job I needed the job
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for a lot of reasons and uh it was a job
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that I absolutely did not like I didn't
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like being there it was a circumstance
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where I actually got cussed at on a
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regular basis
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sometimes it was had nothing to do with
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what I did but the circumstance of
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situation I was in a retail situation
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where uh I would sell packaged items and
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they would be for a specific purpose and
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sometimes they'd mpack that at the plant
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and of course I'd send it out as it was
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sealed up and the person on the other
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end that was going to use the finished
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product it was an expensive item and
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they'd open it up and it wouldn't fit or
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it wouldn't serve the purpose that it
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was supposed to well they they' call me
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up and of course I was The Whipping Boy
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of the verbiage on that end I heard
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things about my mom and dad I knew
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wasn't true but you know they were
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saying they were they were saying things
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about me that I knew I wasn't true they
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were taking out their wrath and taking
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out things on me and this was on a daily
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thing and it was a situation where it
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was also a competitive thing because we
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got a partial salary but it was the
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commission that really made the
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difference in the paycheck I took home
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and I didn't like the circumstance I
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didn't like the situation I felt like
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the people around me there wasn't any
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Christians around it but I got the job
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anyway and got allowed it and so
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therefore I found myself saying God you
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know I I went to Seminary I I I put you
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know almost seven years in my life of of
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just studying everything to be right for
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you uh I've even tried to live for you
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I've tried to be a witness even here
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Lord you know it just seemed like I'm
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just getting brow beat and just
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nothing's good the the only thing I can
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bring out of this is is the paycheck and
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even in my heart and my being you know
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you can't serve God you can't serve man
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so I feel like I'm here for the paycheck
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and not bringing any glory to you can
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you help me make it through this day and
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so I asked him that and he did this he
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says Alton I want you to look at it a
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different way and these words came to me
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just as I'm speaking to you except they
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were you know in in my mind and in my
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heart I felt them I didn't hear
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he said you get two breaks in a day and
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a
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lunchtime he says what I want you to do
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is live for me until the first
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break at that first break let's examine
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how you got through
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it at that first break before you leave
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ask me to guide you through the rest of
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that morning and at lunchtime we'll do
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this
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again and of course at l lunch time we
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did it again and then as I left
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lunchtime he says okay do the same until
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that first break in the afternoon rolls
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around and we'll do it again and I did
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it and after a while I was at that job
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that seemed like nobody liked me nobody
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loved me seemed like everything was
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against me everybody was just what they
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were and the God was with me throughout
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that whole day all of a sudden the day
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got shorter because I wasn't living
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living the whole day I was living pieces
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of the day with God's Presence at hand
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and consciously in my
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mind it made me act different I didn't
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react to them around me the same way
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they would react to me and after a while
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some of them started asking me about God
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they started asking me about church they
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started asking me about spiritual things
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but what really blessed my heart was
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they started asking me to pray for
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things in their life God put me there
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for a reason it was an educational
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reason God put me there for a purpose
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couple of them even came to
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Christ and that's fantastic if you ever
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leave someone to Christ and God reveals
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it to you that you did you can't stand
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it without trying your best to lead
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someone else there and hopefully this
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message is going to somebody's ears
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right now God is real in my life I'm
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glad to share him with you with you
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because he's more than I can Phantom
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he's more than I can hold he's enough
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for everyone he died for every sin that
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ever was past present and future God is
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real so trust him even in your roughest
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time he's walking with you he's already
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been to the Grave he's already de
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descended before he ascended according
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to Ephesians chapter 4 he descended
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before he ascended after he died on the
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cross that means he went to Hades in
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hell so that I wouldn't have to if I
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would follow him in
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life so trust him he can bring you
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through
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anything giving me life today and you'll
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understand what I'm talking about before
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I get to preach on you I've come to my
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last item on my list that is when your
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day is done there is still one more
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thing and that is
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reflect as I reflected each moment that
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I was able to spend every two hours with
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God in that place I didn't want to be at
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the end of my day where I am where God
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wanted me to be or I'm not where God
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wanted me to be but I'm still alive and
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he brought me through it I can still
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reflect on his goodness that brought me
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through it but if he brought me through
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it and I received the blessings I can
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praise him for it give thanks to God for
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the good give thanks to God for the bad
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the good of course is the blessings the
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bad is a lesson it's an opportunity to
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grow closer unto him when we're weak
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he's strong so my list of Essentials to
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be a Christian each and every day is
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this start it with prayer and devotion
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with gratitude seek guidance read your
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scripture yourself so that he can speak
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to you directly through the presence of
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his holy spirit in our world live the
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life of Christ use the holy Spirit
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strength to lean on to be
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successful love Be Kind Show Grace have
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patience and do it with
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dedication work at worship make it a
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point to put God first in everything and
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give him thanks for being there for you
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and the things he's done five serve
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others that shows God's presence in you
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and then as we're in this world up to
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our nexts in whatever God you know
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allows upon us and whatever the Devil
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May throw at
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us understand God is with
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us he's for us he's there to help us and
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he will because he said
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so and then in the evening as the day
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ends reflect give him thanks once again
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lay your head down with a
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prayer and ask him if you can be of
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service to him again
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tomorrow my name is Al Watkins if I can
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pray for you contact me at this email
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address that's on the
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screen I'll pray for you if you'll send
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me that
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email I would also like to share with
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you visit my website if you'd like to
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see some the more videos or some more of
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the videos that is that I've produced
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hopefully to bring a word of God to your
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life go to church in a Bible believing
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Church hang around Bible believing
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Christians learn who Christ is ask him
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to enter your heart and through the
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presence of his Spirit ask him to show
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you the way through living the life with
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the Essentials each and every day God
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bless you thank you for watching